Govt asks mills to surrender unexported quota of sugar

The Centre on Monday asked sugar mills to surrender the sugar quota which could not be exported by March-end and submit a detailed report by next week.

In a communication to sugar mills, the food ministry also warned that if mills fail to export the quota, they would not be entitled for their claim for their quota of fourth quarter under the MAEQ scheme and also for maintenance of buffer stock.

The government also gave more time till April 20 for mills to submit the quarterly report of sugar export. Earlier, mills were supposed to submit the report by April 3.

For the current 2019-20 season (October-September), the government has allowed export of 6 million tonnes of sugar under the Maximum Admissible Export Quantity (MAEQ) scheme to help deal with the surplus sugar.

However, some mills have not been able to export their quota. The government has reallocated about 6,50,000 tonnes of unexported sugar that was surrendered by mills.

In February, a senior food ministry official had said that total sugar exports could reach 5 million tonnes in the current season on higher global demand.

India has exported 3.8 million tonnes of sugar during the 2018-19 marketing year against the mandatory quota of 5 million tonne.

The country's total sugar production is expected to touch 27 million tonnes this year, lower than 33 million tonnes achieved in the past two years.